Problem is, Pickens is not a backup goalkeeper. He’s a starting-quality (some may fairly say all star-level) American goalkeeper.

So when Pickens broke his arm in a game last season and was pushed out of the starting spot by ascendant, young goalkeeper Clint Irwin, Pickens and the Rapids were in a bind. Seems like too simple a question, but what do you do with two goalies?

On the surface, with a surplus of players, it seems a team would use their leverage to trade or transfer one player in exchange for help in a position of need. But that’s not what’s happening with Pickens.

Matt Pickens dives to make a save against Montreal in 2012. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)

The Rapids all along have preached competition, with president Tim Hinchey, technical director Paul Bravo and former coach Oscar Pareja all saying that it’s good to have multiple players able to play a position. But that’s not the full view of things. Even though Irwin made the ridiculously low league minimum $35,125 last season, a team like the Rapids can’t afford to pay Pickens to pine on the bench.

So Pickens was moved. Or allowed to move. He’s now trialing in Norway at Stabaek for ex-U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley. If he’s picked up, Stabaek would have to loan or buy him from the Rapids, who still own his rights for one more season.

In the recent past, the Rapids have said they try to do right by a departing player with a long tenure at the club. They moved Pablo Mastroeni late last season to the L.A. Galaxy when he asked for a place with more chance to play.

The Rapids also said they let Jeff Larentowicz get what he wanted when the former Colorado midfielder left before 2013. But Larentowicz was less enthusiastic about it. “It’s tough to go through those situations,” Larentowicz said last season after his trade to Chicago. “It’s hard to say someone got what they wanted. It’s just something that happens. I’d say I got part of what I wanted.”

Matt Pickens broke his arm in a game against Real Salt Lake on March 16, 2013 in Utah. (George Frey, Getty Images)

Perhaps the Rapids are allowing Pickens some leeway about where he wants to go. So what are their options with Pickens? None. Pickens and the Rapids are all-in on the Stabaek deal.

But there’s more. Stabaek already has two foreign goalkeepers on its roster, led by Sayouba Mandé of the Ivory Coast and including backup Jonathan Rasheed of Sweden.

Bradley told Budstikka that he will not carry three foreign goalkeepers because it’s a waste of the nine allowed international spots in Tippeligaen, Norway’s first division.

So Pickens would need to unseat one or both the other goalies to earn a spot at Stabaek. What are the chances Pickens could earn a spot? Bradley said only that “time will tell.”

With a one-way ticket and a narrow opening at Stabaek, Pickens seems to be betting big on his chance in Norway. And that means the Rapids are betting big with him.

It seems Colorado already wasted its chance to move Pickens to another MLS team. The Rapids have had several months to find a spot for Pickens. He was injured in March of 2013, then Irwin began to solidify his spot in the summer. Even if you allow them an end to the MLS season, then the Rapids have had since November to look for trades or transfers for Pickens. And several MLS teams (including Seattle, Portland, Toronto, Chicago and others) needed a goalkeeper entering 2014. Each of those teams have already found other GKs.

Bradley surely knows this. And he’s likely to use it against the Rapids. (Why offer a big loan or transfer fee if the other side is desperate?)

Either Pickens — who has been an “excused absence” during Colorado’s preseason, according to the team — catches on permanently with Stabaek or else he’ll be wasted. Pickens very likely will never return to the Rapids. So without a transfer fee or trade, the Rapids seemingly would let their longtime stalwart go for nothing in return. Best case scenario might be getting very little in return.